PROBLEM: Losing network connectivity with 2.2.10

[Brian Leeper]

I've sent this to linux-kernel, but I'm not 100% sure that this isn't a
Tulip problem and that the Intel Etherexpress failing wasn't just a fluke,
so I'm sending it here as well.

Just remembered one thing--the problem still occurred when I tried an old
KNE100TX with a 21140 (not 21143) chip on it.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed Jun 16 21:39:27 1999
From: Brian Leeper <qaz@eni.net>
To: linux-kernel@vger.rutgers.edu
Subject: PROBLEM: Losing network connectivity with 2.2.10


[1.] One line summary of the problem:

System loses all network connectivity 

[2.] Full description of the problem/report:

I have several machines running kernel 2.2.10 (compiled without SMP
support) that lose network connectivity (they do not lose network at
the same time) after having been up for anywhere from 5 hours to 5 days.
The machines are still up when they lose network connectivity and there
are no errors in dmesg.  Running ifconfig shows the number of dropped TX
packets increasing--it looks like it's dropping all the transmitted
packets.

Running "ifconfig eth0 down" and then "ifconfig eth0 up" restores network
connectivity, but does not keep this from happening again.

As far as I can tell it is not a problem with the network card or a
problem with the switch port. I was originally using a 21143 Tulip card
(Kingston KNE100TX) with v 0.91 of the Tulip driver--I replaced this with
an Intel Etherexpress pro with the standard eepro100 driver that came with
2.2.9.

After discovering that this didn't solve the problem, I switched the 21143
Tulip card back into the machine, and upgraded the kernel to 2.2.10. I
thought this fixed the problem until the machine lost network
connectivity again.

I made the following changes to the kernel:

include/linux/limits.h
Change OPEN_MAX to 1024 from 256

include/linux/tasks.h
Changed NR_TASKS to 2048 from 512

I've also increased /proc/sys/fs/file-max to 8192.

[3.] Keywords (i.e., modules, networking, kernel):

networking, tulip

[4.] Kernel version (from /proc/version):

Linux version 2.2.10 (root@linux.dn.net) (gcc version 2.7.2.3) #1 Mon
Jun 14 10:28:16 EDT 1999

[7.1.] Software (add the output of the ver_linux script here)

Linux linux270.dn.net 2.2.10 #1 Mon Jun 14 10:28:16 EDT 1999 i686 unknown
Kernel modules         2.1.121
Gnu C                  2.7.2.3
Binutils               2.9.1.0.15
Linux C Library        2.0.7
Dynamic linker         ldd (GNU libc) 2.0.7
Linux C++ Library      2.8.0
Procps                 1.2.9
Mount                  2.8a
Net-tools              1.50
Kbd                    0.96
Sh-utils               1.16
Modules Loaded

[7.2.] Processor information (from /proc/cpuinfo):

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 3
model name      : Pentium II (Klamath)
stepping        : 4
cpu MHz         : 233.867615
cache size      : 512 KB
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
sep_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 2
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov
mmx
bogomips        : 233.47


[7.3.] Module information (from /proc/modules):

none loaded

[7.5.] Other information that might be relevant to the problem

tulip.c:v0.91 4/14/99 becker@cesdis.gsfc.nasa.gov
eth0: Digital DS21143 Tulip rev 65 at 0xb800, 00:C0:F0:3B:F7:BE, IRQ 11.
eth0:  EEPROM default media type Autosense.
eth0:  Index #0 - Media MII (#11) described by a 21142 MII PHY (3) block.
eth0:  MII transceiver #1 config 3000 status 782d advertising 01e1.